scapp70's Full Review: Queen - Greatest Video Hits 2
Queen's second installment of their videos was released this year. The first one Queen: Greatest Video Hits 1 was released last year and covered the years 1973-1980. This one covers 1981-1989. They will release a third and final installment of videos covering 1991-1999 I suppose that would include the Innuendo, Made In Heaven and Greatest Hits 3.
There are two discs included in this video hits package. On disc one there are 17 videos.
It's A Kind Of Magic starts off the set list of videos. This song is not one of my favorites, the video clip is pretty cool. It incorporates the album cover of A Kind Of Magic. The DTS sounds great. You can tell that the people involved with sound production and the DTS mix took their time to produce an awesome sounding DVD.
It's really cool to hear these songs in DTS surround. Songs like the next, I Want It All from The Miracle CD, and actually all of the videos included are more likely than not going to be of the last Queen releases in the DVD-Audio format. Queen has released its first two DVD-A discs about a year apart. First, A Night At The Opera was released, and then The Game. A song like this really fills the room with the beautiful DTS surround sound. This video, in my opinion is a turning point in the way Queen presented themselves. Five years before this video was the release of The Works album, and it is the last period in Queen's career that you'll see Freddie in the full body leotard-type that he wore for most of his career. Roger also during tours would wear a type of 'Frankie Says Relax' shirt.
Then their next release was two years later, and Freddie wore a sort of Sgt Pepper / Michael Jackson sort of jacket that made him sweat like a banshee during that Summer tour. Now this album, The Miracle three years later, finds Queen in a jacketless suit like they're the now hot wedding band. So as the cameras are sweeping and flying through the air trying to create a very cool effect, you still have Queen in shirt and tie.
Radio Ga Ga and I Want To Break Free from The Works CD are next. These songs are among my favorite, and they look and sound awesome. I mean what more needs to be said about these two videos. Radio Ga Ga borrows a lot of footage from the very old and classic silent film Metropolis. The old footage is still grainy, but it looks better than it ever has within this Queen video.
Did anyone ever tell you that Queen is just oh so camp? Well, I Want To Break Free is the epitome of camp.
All dressed in drag to portray a mockery of England's soap opera Coronation Street. Just for a little bit actually, then it's ballet, Queen paying tribute to themselves sort of in their famous Queen II head and shoulders shot and lots of grapes.
Breakthru from The Miracle, has Queen traveling on the Miracle Express train. The song's beat sort of sounds like that fast locomotive sound, so I guess the idea was only natural. Also, a woman is present in this Queen video, very rare.
Under Pressure from Hot Space is a great song, and it's a shame that this video is so boring and practically unwatchable. This video shows no shots of Freddie and the boys, nor does it show David Bowie. Very uninteresting.
Scandal from The Miracle for us in the States is a very rare video. This clip was never shown on MTV here, although their CD peaked at a modest 26 on the Billboard charts. Not bad, and awesome for a Queen album in the US. To see this video is very cool for me and I imagine for all American fans actually. Bootlegs and such was the only outlet this video got here, and now it looks so polished and the sound is awesome.
Who Wants To Live Forever from A Kind Of Magic is a favorite among Queen fans. I never really cared too much for the song (or for most of the album really), and the bits of the great movie Highlander is the only saving grace for me as far as I am concerned anyway.
The Miracle video is such a cool idea. The video shows children maybe 11 years old miming to the song The Miracle and the child who portrays Freddie, his costume is constantly changing between four outfits that Freddie famously wore. You see a long haired "Freddie" sitting at the piano and singing in his black and white diamond leotard from 1977, also you'll see a (mistakenly) mustached "Freddie" dressed in the gay biker outfit from 1978. Another "Freddie" can also be seen in his Live Aid getup from 1985. At last we can also see "Freddie" dressed in his Live At Wembley yellow jacket outfit. The rest of Queen dressed the same throughout the video.
It's A Hard Life from The Works is one of my favorite songs on the disc, if not my favorite over all. The video, if there is a concept, I have no idea what it is. All of Queen is dressed in lavish costumes. Freddie in a long black wig and a red leotard covered in eyes emitting an idea of omnipresence. Brian has no guitar, but plays a skull and long bone instead. The lyrics are my favorite on this DVD as well.
The Invisible Man from The Miracle has a video made up to look like a video game in which the player has to try and zap the members of Queen as they keep appearing and reappearing. Freddie is wearing crazy green sunglasses in this video.
Las Palabras De Amor from the Hot Space CD is a very rare video. This is not so much a promotional video as a television appearance. This is taken from the British program Top Of The Pops. This clip shows Freddie dressed in a tuxedo, looking very dapper. Until you look down and see his relatively dirty sneakers.
Friends Will Be Friends from A Kind Of Magic is a song I really do not care for. The video is filmed in front of a real audience and gives the impression of a real concert sort of. You can see Freddie at the hydraulic video camera zooming above the audience and the crowd goes crazy.
Body Language from Hot Space is sort of a rare video in part because I think this video was banned here in the US. I'm not sure about if the same was true in europe. This has Freddie and the boys hanging around in what looks like a steamy unisex locker room. Oi.
Hammer To Fall from The Works is another concert video. The song, written by Brian May, is a heavy rock song. They have the sounds of the live audience included with shots of a live audience enjoying the show, but I'm not sure if the audience they show is really there. This concert video is a lot better than the Friends Will Be Friends sort.
Princes Of The Universe from A Kind Of Magic is a pretty good video. They show the same clips from Highlander that they use in Who Wants To Live Forever video. The difference is that in this instance they have the lead actor from Highlander, Chris Lambert in the Queen video as well as the snippets from the film. He has a short sword fight with Freddie Mercury's microphone.
One Vision also from A Kind Of Magic is the last video on the disc. They show the recording of the song throughout the video. Also, since this video, which was originally released in 1985 marks the 10th anniversary of the Bohemian Rhapsody video release of 1975. To honor this landmark in Queen history, Queen appear in the famous Queen II head and shoulders pose with the black background. This pose does not look too cool on the now very shorthaired Queen.
All of these videos have the audio options of:
DTS 5.1 Surround Sound & PCM Stereo Mixes &
Audio Commentary by the band
All of the videos are in widescreen as well.
DISC 2
This disc has all of the extra Queen videos and rarities from this time period. This disc along with disc 1 pretty much sum up everything I am aware of from these Queen years.
They are separated into sections by albums. The first is:
Hot Space Section
Bonus Videos :
Back Chat is a video I was not aware of until this DVD release. I like the song a lot, maybe the video was made for other countries where this song was a hit. This video sort of reminds me of the Olivia Newton-John video for the song let's Get Physical but without all of the heavy and buff men. The best part about this video is it is also in DTS as well as the stereo version. None of the songs on the second disc of Queen Greatest Video Hits 1 did not have this amazing option.
Calling All Girls is a video very unlike Queen to make. It is very influenced by George Lucas' first feature film THX 1138. As far as I know, all Queen's videos have had original concept ideas by Queen or their director, and here is the one and only influenced heavily on this relatively unknown film. Also available in DTS.
Staying Power is not a promotional video at all, but a nice little gem thrown in for us fans. It is a live version from Australia's Milton Keynes. I like that Freddie sort of has to explain to the audience that although this song is in the funk/black category, Queen has not lost their rock and roll feel. This is a cool performance. The studio version of the song has a horn section, but the synthesizer makes up for that in this live performance. This video does not contain a DTS audio option.
The Works Section
The worst part of this DVD is the dumb Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival that's included in these next two segments. It is a live show where Queen go before an audience and poorly mime to a few songs from The Works. It's so silly and pointless.
A nice surprise is this great segment called The Works Interviews. It sounds boring, but it is set up like an awesome album press kit. It has interviews mixed in with snippets of videos. It's the best thing on this DVD.
The Freddie Mercury Interview is one of those boring interviews, but this one is not so bad actually.
A Kind Of Magic Section
Here we go again with this awful Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival. Same as last year's festival, it seems Freddie's lip synch goes purposely down hill though.
Also, like with The Works, The Magic Interviews
One Vision Documentary proves to be very entertaining. They talk a lot about the film Highlander obviously.
I suppose it makes sense to include theExtended Vision video since there is an extended One Vision song. It's OK. This video shows how silly Queen get while in the studio.
The Miracle Section
I guess it should be no surprise that Freddie is not present in segment of The Miracle Interviews since he was very sick at times at this point. Queen thought this was to be their last album. I think that I have only read one interview with Freddie in promotion with this album, and that was in the New Music Express. If he did anymore, I am not aware.
Making the Miracle Videos Documentary and Making The Miracle Album Cover are pretty self-explanatory. They show Queen on the Miracle Express for Breakthru chatting away and giving ideas for the video. We could see the tryouts for the children portraying Queen in The Miracle video. Queen are positioned carefully for the I Want It All video and so on.
The Easter Egg on this DVD is a bonus video. It is Who Wants To Live Forever for the Bone Marrow Donor Appeal. Two children Ian and Belinda whom have very good singing voices perform it.
I am not sure how you actually find it on the disc, but I found it by going to title 13 through my DVD menu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For more Queen CD Epinions from Scapp70~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The combination of hard rock music and camp theatrics from singer Freddie Mercury proved to be a goldmine for Queen. Millions of record sales and sold...More at HotMovieSale.com
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